Blogger friends come first

Over the past month or so, I've had small trades and purchases arrive from eBay, Sportlots, and TCDB. Logic would indicate that the orders coming from the east coast would arrive first, followed by central/midwest, then west coast, and Canada would take the longest. 

Personal assumption here but I'd expect that eBay shipments would be most reliable, then Sportlots, then TCDB - just based on the visibility and feedback structue, selling cards vs. trading cards, and moderation of each website. 

Naturally, the post office has laughed at this assumption. I've had issues with receiving cards from all three websites, regardless of location. And while the sellers/trading partners have varied in their responses and the sources, locations, and volume of cards in the incomplete transactions have varied, there is one constant.

Blogger friends have come through every time. 

Here's a care package from Night Owl. He offered to help me complete a couple sets and asked for nothing in return. (don't worry, I'll hit him back for the anniversary giveaway) 

This stack of cards took 3-4 days to travel from NY to NJ, as it should. Meanwhile, I made a trade with a TCDB user in Staten Island more than two weeks ago. I sent my cards two Saturdays ago. Did he receive them? I don't know, he hasn't logged in since the 19th. And I still don't have my cards. 

Bookending with another New York-based blogger, Bo sent me a very generous trade offer on the 15th. That trade took about a week to complete. I filed those cards away already but here's a scan of one of them. 

That's just one TCDB user though. Sometimes trade partners disappear, it happens. What about eBay? There's far more mechanisms in place to prevent sellers from ghosting. 

Ah, but those standard envelopes for single card purchases under $20 are always risky. 

I paid under $2 shipped for this Junior which arrived in four days from Las Vegas. It should have completed my 2024 Topps set, but a three-card trade with a west coast TCDB user has not arrived. This trade partner (I'm not going to name names) logs in every day and has been responsive. They sent my three cards on June 2. That small envelope has apparently been lost in the mail. 

While eBay sellers do have more incentive to complete transactions than TCDB traders, this still seems random to me. Not only because the west coast 3-card trade was with a more active trader(with 100% feedback) while the NY trader has far more feedback (but a negative or two). But because an eBay purchase I made two weeks ago was also lost in the mail. And this seller deserves to be mentioned by name.

Another $2 purchase shipped in a standard envelope. Should have arrived roughly the same time as the Caminero - maybe a day earlier since this seller is in the Boston area. But it didn't. The eBay tracking wasn't helpful as it hadn't even been marked as shipped after 11 days. So I sent The Card Pagoda a quick message just to confirm the card was shipped, and he ... immediately apologized, refunded my $2, and offered to send a replacement. 

The replacement has already arrived. 

More value that I had intially expected, plus two Whalers (based on my screen name) and a refund?!? For a two dollar card? The only reason I even thought to ask Gus to confirm the card shipped was because of a Sportlots order I still have not received.

I wanted my 100th Sportlots purchase to be significant. I also wanted to complete some hockey card sets and that is very tough to do on TCDB. So I saved my pennies and purchased large chunks of cards from three different sellers. 

All three were tracked. Two have arrived. Guess which one didn't? That's right, the one with free shipping. I specifically loaded up at TNT because of the $0 shipping for 101+ cards. They are a preferred seller with 100% feedback. So what happened? 

Sorry, I was away for a week helping my mother and had not dropped off the packages to the post office. I will get your order dropped off at the post office today.

Hey, I get it. Moms always come first. I was anxious about this one because I'm going away to see my mom soon, and I didn't want the package sitting on the porch for five days.

Even after this message it still sat in limbo all week with no status update, though TNT was responsive and offered a refund if the cards didn't arrive soon. As I began writing this I checked USPS to screenshot the lack of status and.. apparently it is moving and expected to arrive tomorrow. So that's a relief. If and when it does, I'll need just 15 cards to complete a run of Upper Deck hockey base sets.

Hopefully I will be able to complete those sets through TCDB trades. And that means sending envelopes across the border to Canada, which is tough for several reasons. The envelopes can't have too much weight to them or customs flags them down and charges $500. As noted above, small envelopes within the US get lost all the time, so adding another country to the mix only increases the diffculty. And some TCDB users north of the 49th won't even trade with Americans (can't say I blame them)

But you know who does? Crazie Joe. 

Joe had a mix of everything for me - Devils, Whalers, an Ovi, and a pair of set fillers. These arrived from Ontario in a week. I was blown away. If I can complete a small PWE trade with someone in Canada this fast, there's no reason for any trade or purchase from anywhere in the lower 48 to take longer. 

It seems so random, right? Some trades arrive fast, others don't. Some small purchases arrive fast, others are lost. Some tracked orders arrive fast, others don't. But Joe here proves that there is a commonality among all the transactions I've completed on time. 

He has a blog. 

So, whether you're buying on eBay or Sportlots, trading on TCDB or elsewhere, don't check a person's feedback rating for peace of mind. Check to see if they have a sports card blog 😁

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Father's Day at the Card Show

A couple weeks ago, a co-worker noticed me looking at something sports card related and told me that 1) he also collects sports cards, and 2) there's a card show coming up in the town next over from me--on Father's Day. 

I figured I could walk to wherever it was, since Cranford is literally three blocks from my house. Nope!

This card show was in a batting cage-type place in an industrial section of town buried near the woods. The TCDB ad said the show started at 10 a.m., while the Facebook ad said the "new" time was Noon. Figures it would be moved later on a holiday where I would want to be home with my kids. 

Also, admission was $3 and I probably could have dodged it since I got there at 11:30 a.m. and walked right in to see the dealers setting up their tables (15 or 20 maybe) in a very small room. Had I stayed in the men's room for 20 minutes I would have already passed the empty table where someone would eventually collect entrance fees*

*and politely inform some kid bringing in a suitcase of slabs that there's a $10 fee for that. I knew that from the flyer but this jerk was all annoyed that he was being charged for his portable showroom. 

However, I did the right thing and walked around the block until showtime. There was nothing nearby. Not a single store or restaurant or anything. 

When the doors opened I did a quick pass through the very square room. First stop was a father and son selling some shiny cards at the front of the room. The little guy must have been 10-12 years old and dad was pausing in the middle of his deal to stop his kid from sounding too eager. 

After a few minutes of perusing their table I produced a small stack of modern shiny. The kid negotiated a price with me, initially asking $75. "Would you take $60?" I replied. We agreed on $65, and he asked his dad to give him some change. Then the dad wanted to see what they were selling so I handed him the stack:

He grinned when he saw the Jordan Love, as my Packers hat indicated to him that I would want that one. 

I was far too excited to see Tyler Booker in the box. Going to high school with an NFL player's uncle has made me PC an offensive lineman 😦who plays for the Cowboys 😶

There were a few other cards not shown here. You'll see them in care packages soon. 

Another spin around the room led me to a table with a $20 box / $15 box / $5 box setup. Each had a discount for every 3 cards purchased, but I only picked one $20 card and one $15 card.

Am I crazy for handing over two Hamiltons for a non-numbered insert of Randy Arozarena? Probably, but forking over $15 for the Jaxson Dart was an even harder one to explain. Mr. Blue Tent got dragged in the local press for supporting Trump (I get that he's a mormon Ole Miss alum but.. why now?) and while I didn't want to look like a fan of the kid -- on or off the field -- that color match was too much to resist. 

Mmmm.... red

The $5 box had a lot more volume for my taste, and I seem to recall the final price working out to $3 each based on how many I picked out. 

$3 for any Ohtani insert is an automatic 'yes', and the CMC (#d/75) was an easy PC pickup. I didn't need the Murray neccesarily but the color match, low numbering, and my total lack of New Orleans Pelicans made it appealing. Chase Shuggart wasn't the only Red Sox auto in the box; I initially had a Brian Johnson in my stack but chose Chase because Johnson's card and auto were far less appealing. [And, even though he was the longer-tenured Sox reliever, his name alone makes me furious.]

From there I spied a box of vintage singles on a table to my right and began shuffling through 1950's commons. A Del Crandall 1950 Bowman RC was the only one I considered but the condition was probably below VG. Some '57 singles looked sharper; one in particular was really clean - but for the life of me I could not tell you who the player was. Also.. not a single '56 single anywhere in the box :/ 

I slid over to the modern cards on the same table and pulled out a stack while a woman pulled up to the vintage side and told the dealer her husband would be so happy to see a vintage box. (It was the only one at the show.) 

Not all the cards had prices - which is usually a yellow flag - but the lady at the booth told me if I had a question about price I can ask her son (who was about 16-18 years old) I nodded and assembled the biggest of my four stacks. 

Another autographed card of a subpar Red Sox reliever? Add it. Cool looking bat card marked at $4? Add it. Shimmerry refractors? Add 'em.  

Loose Packers? Add 'em.

Even you, Josh Jacobs. Grrr..

Shiny and colorful non-Packers....

...including some more color matches and a Braelon Allen #d to 299? Why not. 

All the loose cards were in a 50 cent box, which I'm pretty sure was part of this pile. 

The most expensive single purchase of the day and the most impressive single card I brought home was this Dale Murphy '89 style orange refractor autograph numbered 12 of 25 (Christmas card!) 

You never know what you'll find at a show, huh? I bought zero graded cards, zero vintage, and the only hockey cards I saw were some very reasonably-priced hobby boxes of 2022-23 Upper Deck series 1 for $50. I would have grabbed one if I didn't already have the set. 

After a whirlwind 90 minutes I had spent about $250, seen every table twice, and picked up a lot of goodies for my PC and yours. So I called an Uber to take me home and while I waited... I stopped at the table by the entrance. Next to the overeager kid and his dad was a dealer with a box of loose baseball singles. They looked like 2026 flagship so I hurriedly pulled out my want list and grabbed what I could. 

I meant to pick up two (more) Misiorowski RCs. I did not mean to pick out two Ryan Ritter rookies. With my ride on th way I was feeling rushed, and had to stop at 33 cards (not all of which I needed) The dealer looked through them all and gave me a price - $25. I didn't have time to haggle, but I did have time to add one card as I thought it over. A Ken Griffey Jr. Donruss parallel seemed a bit much so I plucked the Paul Skenes out of the box and told him that if he could add this I'll give him $25. "Deal!" 

And that was the show. Oddly, the co-worker who reccomended it never appeared. His loss I suppose. 

On the way home I stopped at an ice cream parlor, took my sundae outside and.. it immediately started to rain. I waited out the shower as best I could, with the cards securely triple-bagged in my backpack. 


My next major sports card purchase will be in a couple weeks, when I visit my mom in CT. Now that I know what to expect it will be easier to buget my money there. 

Thanks for reading!



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Cackling with joy

Even after 40 years, sports card collecting still gives me unexpected moments of joy.  

If you've bought retail packs at Target, you probably know that they are limiting the amout of trading cards per purchase. I would hope that this is to discourage flipping, but I don't think that's particularly effective. For one, it's easy to flip pairs of mega boxes and blasters. For another, just about anyone buying more than two fat packs of Topps flagship is trying to build a set. How much can you make fliping those? Maybe $3?

Regardless, the cashier took two of my packs away last weekend. So I returned Tuesday with a devious and sinister plan to break the rules oooooh I'm such a rebel!

Step one: take two fat packs off the rack, run them through self-checkout, pay. Place the packs in cargo shorts pocket. 

Step two: turn around, re-enter the store, buy $60 worth of groceries... and two more Topps packs.

Step three: profit.

Before I reveal what was inside these packs, I should applaud Topps for keeping these reasonably priced. Panini Prizm and Donruss Optic 'value' packs give you 12-15 cards for $15 each - and some Optic packs are all base cards. Meanwhile, these 36-card packs of Topps baseball - with at least two inserts per pack - are still just $6.99. No wonder Target limits them to two per customer.

On the other hand, 144 cards doesn't yield nearly as many set fillers as it should. The inserts are plentiful(for better or worse) and so are the duplicates. I think I got about 30 dupes out of these.

Ugh... too many Christians

For $30 after tax I'd be happy with the 75-80 set fillers, a few nice inserts, and one of the key rookie cards. Here's the whole haul.

Well, almost all of it. In the middle of the second pack I noticed a card was turned upside-down and when I flipped it over I burst out in a joyous cackle - not excitement at first, but devious laughter. It felt like I was being rewarded for breaking the rules.

Wait a second... is that... ? 

Hahaha! What?!?! An on-card auto of an inner circle Hall of Famer numbered to 10?!? Out of a retail pack?!? Okay, sure, the corners are a little white because this was probably one of the packs in my pocket, and Carlton's signature is shaky as hell because he's 80-something years old, and I'm not a fan of this geriatric nut job at all, but... it's a hundred dollar card. Out of a retail pack I shouldn't have been allowed to purchase. 

Have you defied the 'two packs per purchase' rule? Done anything devious lately? I won't tell ;)

Thanks for reading!

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Sports!

 You know what's hot right now? Sports. Sports are soo hot right now!

I've seen more celebs at sporting events in the past three days than I can count - and we're eight months away from the Super Bowl. Everyone is arguing over who is a bigger Knicks fan and who deserves the (free?!?!?) courtside seats at the Garden. It's all very petty. 

Once the NBA Finals are over, anyone who's anyone will gravitate toward World Cup matches. I was literally searching for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar cards on eBay during last night's USA-Paraguay match when I looked up at the screen and saw the man himself. Oh, and Tom Cruise was there, too. Cool. 

Sporting events are suddenly the hottest ticket in town. Every celeb has to be seen at the Knicks game or the World Cup - but definitely not the steel cage grovel-fest on the White House lawn brought to you by Carl's Jr.

So the tri-state area is suddenly full of Lifelong Knicks Fans, the USA is suddenly full of Soccer Fans who actually call the sport Football and the bourgeoisie are getting ready to watch a bunch of anti-woke Alpha Bros punch and kick each other to celebrate America's 250th birthday, Trump's 80th birthday, or both. Sports!

*puts finger to earpiece* What's that? I'm being told there is an ice hockey event going on as well? Can we get confirmation on this?

at least my daughters are watching hockey 🤷

I'm actually glad that this horrible Stanley Cup final matchup is completely overshadowed by The New York Knicks and soccer and UFC. I don't care how good the games are. You are making me choose between the heartless bastards of the league or the team that ripped my heart out twice. 

In mid-September, David Pagnotta announced a report that the Hurricanes’ front office was heavily interested in acquiring Michael McLeod, a bottom-six forward, and Carter Hart, the Philadelphia Flyers’ former franchise goaltender.

Things began sparking as soon as the news broke, with many Hurricanes fans protesting the signing of any member of the Hockey Canada Five. Multiple season ticket members contacted their ticket representatives, stating their desire to cancel their plans if the players were signed, while others petitioned against the decision, garnering over 1,700 signatures.

 

Wow. The Caniacs stood on principle, and the executives listened to their customers. 

Then what happened?

Ugh.. I have to cheer for the Canes?!? Oh f*ck you hockey. Get Taylor Hall his cup and then get the f*ck away from me. I'm watching the footy match, mate! 

World Cup kickoff party at my office. I got paid to watch sports and had loads of catered food. I love my job. 

 ⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽

We're still about two months away from my 40th collecting anniversary and 10th blogging anniversary celebration box break thing - but I wanted to explain things a bit better and reveal one of the boxes in the break - which arrived yesterday.

It's so pretty. I almost don't even want to open it. But I will, and you'll all receive a pack from this :)

The other three boxes are also baseball. I have hockey and basketball I can break, and could easily pick up some NFL stuff, but I figured baseball only was the safest way to go. If you do want me to mix in another sport, let me know!

I'm assembling eight bubble mailers. Each will contain two sealed packs of cards, a pack of penny sleeves, and a handful of cards from the break. There will also be 'hits' randomly inserted, including the aforementioned mystery packs from JB's Sportscards (those will be all sports, not just baseball)

Update - all the slots are filled 😁

1 - Night Owl

2- Gavin

3 - Fuji

4 - Derek

5 - Bo

6 - Matt K.

7 - Tom

8 - Dennis

Thanks for reading, and Go Knicks! Ugh.. that feels awful. Go.. Canes?!? Blecch that's worse.

Um... go .. America!

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Update: I need Updates

2026 Topps series 2 will probably hit shelves by the time you read this. Some breakers have it already, but my LCS said they'll have it tomrrow. I asked how much a hobby box will cost and the shop owner said he wouldn't know until tomorrow. Seriously??!?! 

Dave & Adam's has set their prices for a hobby box at $174.95. So my LCS will probably be close to $200. On one hand, I plan to pay about that much for a birthday break of 1986 Topps - and there's no chance of pulling any hits out of this. 

On the other hand, the idea of paying $400+ just to bookend 40 years of card collecting is absurd. There's no guarantee I'd pull even a $20 card out of a box and I'd only get half of the set -- if I'm lucky. I don't even have half of Series 1. 

I have every Topps flagship base set from 2010 to 2019. Skipped over the Covid years and started back up with 2022. Once I finish 2024 and decide what to do about 2026 I'll focus on Update.

I've been fairly random when it comes to Update sets; I've completed 2013 and 2019 and I'm passively collecing 2010. 

You know how Mike Trout's 2011 Topps Update RC is still well over $400?? Well, I got the Mike Stanton RC for... four:

That seems imbalanced. Trout is definitely the better all-around player, but Stanton also has an MVP, multiple Silver Sluggers, and 400+ career homers, And he's got just as many World Series rings as Trout. 

Anyway, I've only got about a third of the 2010 Update set but now that I've got the key card out of the way it will be easier. 2022 Update is the priority now. There's a 'relic' box headed my way that should hopefully yield some of the 116 cards I still need. And then it's on to 2025 Update. Like 2022 Update, I've got about 65% of the set completed. Unlike 2022, I don't have any cards en route to me. 

That's where you come in.

If you have any 2025 Topps Update or 2026 Topps flagship, or any other cards on my wantlist -- send me a trade offer on TCDB. If I don't have anything you're looking for on my tradelist, welll...

I'm headed back to Connecticut in July - which means another trip to a much, much better LCS than the one I've got here in Clark. Send me anything on my wantlist and I'll be happy to bring your wantlists here:

I can't guarantee that I'll find what you're looking for - but they've got loads of monster boxes to pour through and their singles are very reasonably priced. I could also pick up packs and/or supplies. 

Oh, and I have an announcement...

On my actual 10-year blog anniversary (August 21) I'm planning to celebrate 40 years of collecting with a 4-box break. 1986 Topps baseball will be one of the boxes. The others will be revealed in due course. 

For those of you who have stuck with me through the ups and downs of this blog - Fuji, Dennis, Greg, Matt, Jon, Bo, Derek, and many more... I'm going to include you. It won't quite be like JBF's farewell break, but it should be a good one. Details to follow. 

For now, I can tell you that there will be eight slots. If you want one, comment with a number from 1 to 8 and a player (current or former, any sport) who wore that number. 

This box break is totally free as a thank you for following my blog. You do not have to send me anything to participate, you just have to be a familiar face/screen name 😁

Thanks for reading!





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Temptation

 
I told myself I was done collecting at the end of 2026. Everything lined up perfectly: 40 years of collecting sports cards, 10 years of blogging and plugging away at the 1956 Topps set (which is 70 years old this year), 75 years of Topps. 

But that wasn't why I was looking toward 2027 as a time when I no longer collect cards. For one, I'm so much busier now. I'm raising two teenage daughters by myself, and I want to spend as much time(and money) as I can on them. Lamenting the countless hours spent on my collection that would have been better spent with D has led me to value time more than money, and sports in general has taken up too much of both. 

Sidebar: I'm spending over $200 a month on cable when my oldest daughter stares at her phone or tablet and my youngest only watches YouTube. Honestly, so do I. I'm keeping cable for what? Live sports. 

And yet - I have no interest in this year's NBA or NHL championship, I haven't watched a baseball game in 3 years, and half the decent NFL games are on streaming now. Plus the Packers are going to suck because Micah Parsons is still injured and our running back just Ray Rice-d his wife allegedly. 

Pro athletes are assholes. 

Something that's been a part of my life since I was six years old should be difficult to give up, right?

There are very few players left to cheer for; the only active MLB player I PC has been on the IL for the past two years. We're headed for a long labor dispute because the players union will never accept a salary cap - not even one with a $170 million floor. And I could not care less. Not just because the Red Sox are in last place, or the Yankees are in firs----what's that? Tampa is in first? Pfft. That wont last. Are they still playing at Steinbrenner field? 

You see. I dont even look at the standings anymore. Apparently Cal Raleigh is ass now? And... he probably jinxed himself in the WBC. Front toward enemy huh? Look in the mirror, dipshit. 

If I did PC an actual current player it might be Randy Arozarena. He seems like a cool guy(do not tell me if he isn't.) 

This spring I've been hard at work trading my 2,000+ duplicate cards for set fillers. Before Christmas I went on a bit of a card buying spree and started four different 2025 baseball sets - the most I've built in a single year since 2018. But.. why? I don't even know who most of these guys are:

2023 Topps is complete. 2025 Topps is complete (I'm 65% done with Update). 2025 Topps Heritage is nearly done - except for the SPs and high numbers. 2024 Topps is very close; I'm less than 20 cards away.

I might try to complete 2010 and 2022 Topps Update, but that's all I have room for on my shelf. 

The last Topps flagship I'm going to work on will be 1986 Topps, after I buy myself a box for my birthday/40th year card collecting anniversary. End with the same set I started with. 

So why am I even thinking about buying any 2026 baseball products?

For a while I was planning to restrict myself from acquiring any card printed after 2025. Because if I keep adding new cards I'll never stop. I've got to stop sometime.

Even when Fanatics released the initial photos of the flagship design, I resisted. It looked better than any Topps set in years. But I knew that if I started it, I'd want to finish it. 

In my TCDB trades I added a few 2026 Topps singles to my wantlist. I couldn't resist that rookie class. But a baker's dozen of series 1 singles won't tempt me to start yet another set build. 

No, but you know what will? My nearby Barnes & Noble carrying these special Megabox things:

Oh, and they have 2026 Bowman blasters and Megaboxes, too. Those aren't hot items or anything, are they? Even if I don't open them I could hoard them and flip in a couple years. But then .. what if there's a huge prospect to chase and by the time he makes his debut the singles are so expensive that...

You're right Joe. It's not worth it. I'll refrain from purchasing either of these. No more 2026 cards. No new set projects. No chasing prospect cards of players I don't know or care about, just to make a buck. 

But... how much were those megaboxes again?!?

I think I have a $5 credit at Barnes and Noble... and maybe even a gift card...

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